Jim and Dan: On the Second Anniversary of Their Deaths
The following is from a recent reading at our local library for the Floyd County Moonshine. It will soon be the 13th anniversary (July 25th) of the death of my brother Jim, who died in a machine shop accident, which was followed a month later (August 29) by the death of my brother Dan, who died of liver disease. The poem was written on the second anniversary of their deaths. Jim’s high school class is celebrating their 40th anniversary reunion this weekend.
From the back of The Jim and Dan Stories, the book I wrote about their deaths: The last few weeks of my brother’s lives played out like the conclusion of a dramatic Hollywood script, a plot with a twist. The road trip they took, two weeks before the first death, became the beginning of a larger journey, the one in which they would both leave this world. Although their deaths were the catalyst for this book, the stories are as much about our lives as Redmans, growing up in an Irish Catholic, working class clan in the South Shore of Boston, Massachusetts, during the 50’s – 70’s. The book also chronicles the experience of writing, from my cabin home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in the midst of the acute stages of grief. It reveals the identity crisis that surfaced in me after the loss of my brothers, and the resolution I eventually came to–that within loss there is much to be received, and through the experience of death, life can be made even more precious. I like to think that Jim and Dan are still on their journey. I like to think of them as our family’s pioneers.
-More about the book HERE.
July 21st, 2014 12:42 pm
I cannot even imagine how painful it must have been to lose both brothers within so short a time. Your poem is so moving, and you are so brave to share it aloud at a reading – I’m sure there were few dry eyes in the audience.
July 21st, 2014 1:17 pm
Fantastic dear friend!
July 21st, 2014 1:29 pm
This is overwhelming ….
(I imagine your freckles are adorable!)
July 21st, 2014 2:57 pm
it must have been so awfully painful for the family… a sad yet beautiful write!!
July 21st, 2014 3:47 pm
[…] Colleen Redman lives and works as a poet, photographer, and journalist in Floyd County, Virginia. In one way her blog is very local, focused on the community of artists and musicians and craftpeople and farmers who call Floyd home. Reading Colleen’s posts about her community I figure they’re lucky to have her, and I start thinking about the individual in community from a new slant–Colleen’s! She also writes funny, observant, and moving poems, and you can find her reading aloud a wonderful poem about her brothers’ deaths, here. […]
July 21st, 2014 4:38 pm
We never stop grieving, but we find we an breath even with the pain. You have a lovely book.
July 21st, 2014 5:19 pm
Is this reading this year Coll!! You look fabulous and I don’t think I would be able to read it as well as you did!
July 21st, 2014 7:15 pm
Yes, it’s from a May reading and I read about six poems that had been published in Moonshine and new ones: http://looseleafnotes.com/2014/06/a-poetry-reading-roll/
October 17th, 2016 10:32 am
[…] We projected a video clip of me reading “My Grandmother’s Brouge” at a Spoken World night on St. Patrick’s Day in 2007 and, in part, with an Irish accent (listen HERE). “My Grandmother came to America to be a servant … and then have 11 children for the Catholic Church / “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Another clip was me reading at a Floyd County Moonshine library event from a podium HERE. […]
October 14th, 2019 10:43 am
Very powerful, Colleen! And deep and true and honest!